Marijuana moratorium approved; council moves forward with sea level rise working group

The Eureka City Council Tuesday evening passed unanimously, and with no public comment, an interim urgency ordinance that would extend for another year the existing moratorium on the establishment of medical marijuana dispensaries in the city.

"This is the prudent thing to do," Councilwoman Melinda Ciarabellini said before making the motion for the council to approve the one-year extension. "We really don't have much of a choice until this gets settled either way."

City staff recommended the council approve the one-year extension to "preserve the status quo," while the city studies amendments to zoning regulations, a staff report said.

The city's medical cannabis ordinance -- passed by a previous council in August 2010 and modified in May 2011 -- regulates personal residential marijuana grows on a land-use basis and allows for the permitting of four medical marijuana dispensaries. The dispensary portion of the ordinance came into question after city staff solicited input on the ordinance from the U.S. Attorney's Office in September 2011.

In response, Melinda Haag, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of California, wrote the city a sternly worded letter warning Eureka that her office felt the city's "licensing scheme" was in violation of federal law and could expose the city -- as well as its employees and officials -- to legal action.

Last December, the council approved an urgency ordinance, adopting a 10-month moratorium on dispensaries, which extended a previous ordinance that adopted a 45-day moratorium on dispensaries in November.

According to the staff report, there remains "considerable uncertainty regarding the legality of dispensaries and the scope of federal and state preemption with respect to local regulation of medical cannabis."

In addressing the council Tuesday night, City Attorney Cyndy Day-Wilson said she believed six cases concerning the legality of medical marijuana, ranging from federal preemption to land use and zoning requirements, are currently before the United States Supreme Court.

"Given the number of cases -- and there are still cases being filed that could be appealed and new laws being passed that could spawn new litigation -- I am not sure that the dust will settle on this for years," Day-Wilson said. "Until the Court issues a decision I don't know what direction this will take. We just have to wait and see."

In other matters, the council went against staff recommendation and unanimously approved a Humboldt Housing and Homeless Coalition request for $3,000 toward consultant fees.

The consultant fees will go toward obtaining grant funding for support services to homeless individuals around the county, according to a staff report. Last year the grant provided more than $600,000 to service organizations like the Redwood Community Action Agency Youth Services Bureau and the North Coast Substance Abuse Council's residential treatment house Crossroads. City staff recommended the council deny the request, citing the elimination of the city's redevelopment agency and a lack of other funding sources.

Eureka's Economic Development and Housing Director Cindy Trobitz-Thomas said making the recommendation to deny the funds was not easy.

"It really is not fun to not have any money," she said. "A lot of these types of things are worthy causes, but we just can't recommend approving them."

Following the approval of the request, which the council members agreed would be funded through the John Dodd Roberts bequest, Mayor Frank Jager said he hoped members of the community take note.

"Frequently we as a council get accused of doing nothing for the homeless. This is another example of us trying to do something," he said. "Between us and the county we have spent millions and millions of dollars. To say that we are not doing anything really makes me bristle."

The council also heard Tuesday a presentation on Humboldt Bay's vulnerability to sea level rise delivered by Aldaron Laird of Trinity Associates.

"Humboldt Bay has the highest rate of sea-level rise on the West Coast," said Laird, as he showed examples of crumbling dikes and shoreline areas that already flood yearly.

In delivering his presentation, Laird said 75 percent of Humboldt Bay's 102-mile shoreline is artificial, meaning it needs maintenance.

"Right now, with the work we have already done, we are farther along than most areas, even San Francisco. We have a shoreline inventory completed. We can see the areas of concern," Laird said. "But moving forward we have to look at this as a group. It wouldn't do any good for Eureka to come up with a strategy if the county wasn't on board."

Following Laird's presentation the council moved to endorse, through a letter sent to the state Coastal Conservancy, a $250,000 grant to the nonprofit Coastal Ecosystems Institute of Northern California for the adaptation planning and technical studies associated with sea level rise in the Humboldt Bay region.

If the grant funding is awarded, the city of Eureka would be asked to join a working group with the city of Arcata, the Humboldt Bay Harbor, Recreation and Conservation District and the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors.

Other invited participants to the working group would include land management agencies, resource protection and regulator agencies, and special districts. Under the agreement, the working group would meet every two months for two years with the priority of making information related to sea level rise vulnerability available to the public.

Prior to authorizing the mayor to send the letter of support, council members Ciarabellini and Mike Newman stressed revisions to the letter that would see a stronger emphasis placed on city collaboration with involved business and property owners as the working group moves forward.

"I think we really need to emphasize the business community's involvement moving forward," Ciarabellini said. "Particularly those who own property along the shoreline. A lot of the time public hearings do not come up until the very end, after everything has been discussed and basically decided. I don't want to see that happen here."